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Vacation with Derek and Baxter acquired by Starz

Shaftesbury’s Vacation with Derek and Baxter Acquired By Starz Entertainment

Shaftesbury Sales Company, the distribution arm of leading production company Shaftesbury, today announced that Starz Entertainment in the United States has acquired two titles from its award-winning kids and family slate for broadcast in 2011: Vacation with Derek, the movie follow up to the hit series Life with Derek; and tween series Baxter, which follows a group of friends at a performing arts high school.

Vacation with Derek (1 x 90 minutes) is the movie follow-up to Shaftesbury’s global hit series, Life with Derek (70 x 30 minutes), which is broadcast in more than 120 countries worldwide. Derek (Michael Seater) and Casey (Ashley Leggat) further their sibling rivalry in this continuation of the series when they are forced to spend summer vacation with their hard-edged grandmother at her lakeside lodge. Produced by Shaftesbury, the movie premiered on Family Channel in Canada in June 2010, and ranked as the number one show for the day across all networks with audiences 2+ during its premiere broadcast on June 25.*

Baxter (13 x 30 minutes) follows a group of teens on their journey through a school for the performing arts, where the students will do anything they can to stand out. Baxter McNab (Evan Williams, Degrassi: The Next Generation) and his friends at the Northern Star School of the Arts find the stress of a science test nothing compared to a dance recital, music performance or directing a short film, and soon learn that the key to success at their special high school is to stick together as they negotiate crushes, auditions and the occasional bout of stage fright. Baxter is produced by Shaftesbury and premiered on Family Channel in Canada in May 2010.